Keep Alives / Stay Alives

The concept of Keep Alives or Stay Alives (SA) has taken my interest.  I had looked into SAs about 12 months ago but at that time, the super caps or the ultra caps were just too big to fit in any one my locos.

At that time I did order some 1F caps but then lost interest and shelved the caps, but luckly I had found these caps so I built a quick test circuit.

Now, on Loksound v5 decoders, they have made it quite easy to connect your own home built SA.  After doing some research, I took the plunge and decided to carefully solder a couple of wires to the pads and then connect these to the home built stay alive circuit that was built using the 1F caps.

With 10VAC coming out of the track, I was quite relieved to see the ciruict actually working!  

https://youtu.be/vAMYUmKQXDo

Now I am waiting for smaller ultra caps to arrive so I can built a permanent circuit to fit inside this locomotive.  Then will try to do the same to the others.

 

More ballasting

I decided to tackle the far back stretch of trackwork over the weekend as it just looked aweful on bare wood.  It is amazing how much better things looks when scenery is added.  It took me little longer than I thought but I am quite pleased with the results.  Since my layout is off the walls, I get to walk round to the back end from time to time to view trains running from different angles, and now going back to this spot is really enjoyable when looking at the scenery, even though it is a very small section breath wise.

Here are some photos:

Also some more photos from an earlier time:

Adding Passengers to the RailMotor

In anticipation of a sound decoder for the Walker Railmotor, I thought it would be a good idea to add some passengers at the same time.  I bought some seated figures some months back on a trip to a Buy & Sell with Craig so was going to use these figures.

I knew that the figures would be slightly too large given how the interior of the Auscision Models Railmotor was built, but I seem to have gotton away with not having to cut any of their legs off.

I also wanted to add the locomotive drivers, as it looks little silly with no one in the cab.  So having some unpainted standing figures I decided to chop them off at the chest after I painted two of them.  I think the results are quite good and looks so much better (i.e. realistic)

Now have to wait for the decoder to arrive and to do the install.
Maybe one day I will add inside lighting which I think would look really cool, especially when the boys come over and I turn the lights off.

Sound of Music

I finally took the plunge and bought a Loksound V5 sound decoder over the Christmas break.  The install was very straight forward and I used an old iphone 4 speaker which my work was throwing out by the box full.

I must say I am pleasently impressed by this decoder!  I remember about 10 years ago hearing some of these sound decoders and thinking to myself these are expensive gimmicks!  But nowadays I really think sound decoders add so much more to model railway fun.  With Hi-Fi sound and 132Mbit of memory, and also with built in current keepers, we are at last getting to the enjoyment levels rather than the gimmicks they once were.

I am so impressed with the Loksound V5 decoders I bought another one and I intend to eventually update my fleet.

The beauty of the Loksound v5 decoders is the amazing customerisation that is on offer which can be done using JMRI.

For example, I wanted the locomotive to have its engine on and running but on quite mode as by default, they are all switched in the "off" state.  Using the Function Mapping page in JMRI, I was able to achieve this by using the NOT logical function.  On this particular decoder, F8 is used to start the engine.  So setting this line to NOT F8, as soon as power is applied to the engine, the sound starts up.

F22 is mapped to FADE, so all I had to do is change this to NOT F22.  This achieved the goal of starting up the loco in quite mode.

Oh, I also want the independent brakes on - no problem, F22 is independent brakes, so setting this to NOT F22 achieves this.

Another example:

Using Primary Load (Heavy Load) to extend the braking range when Dynamics are on since when this function is ON, this affects acceleration and deceleration as well:

Then in Function Mapping for F4 (Dynamic Brake)

Where it says “Moving, F4” which is mapped to Logical Function Brake 1, add the following:

Moving, F4 Brake1

To

Moving, F4 Brake1,Primary Load

Hope someone finds this useful.

Sequential Operation

Previously I commented on how I was operating my layout and although that was fun, it got me thinking what if I ran one movement from staging, through the station, then back to staging - basically operating the continuous layout in a point-to-point fashion.

So, lately, after work I have now been running one movement just like this and it really does feel alot more realistic and prototypical.  I have 19 movements to complete and on two occasions, there is either a meet or cross.     All trains have to stop at the station for a crew change.  This makes the operating session stretch out little. 

Every evening, I may run maybe 3 or 4 movements which takes about 30 mins, then do some odd job in the shed and then close off for the day.  Very relaxing!

I currently have five staging tracks, so I had to create a shelve to cater for the extra wagons and rolling-stock which is near the staging/fiddle tracks.

The following is the list of movements

-->

1	DN	JET
2	UP	THROUGH
3	DN	THROUGH
4	UP	GOODS
5	DN	PAPER	CROSS with 6
6	UP	JET	CROSS with 5
7	UP	RM
8	DN	GOODS	Wait for 9
9	DN	GRAIN	Road 1
10	DN	RM
11	UP	CATTLE
12	UP	LE
13	UP	SUPERPHOSPHATE
14	UP	BONO
15	DN	CATTLE
16	DN	FAST GOODS
17	DN	SUPER
18	UP	FAST
19	DN	BONO

Here are some photos from the ops:

Scenery Bug

Spent some time working on the scenery since I have neglected this area of the hobby for some time.
After visiting Geoff's place and seeing his layout, I was inspired to spruce up some areas of the layout.  I tried my hand at making some bushes and also tried to bring up my standard on some of the trees I made.  I noticed that I needed some variety. 

Still a good working in progress and a long learning curve.  Unfortunately I don't seem to have the nack for scenery when compared to other folks out there.

Broken Gear

I was running an UP Jet freighter with two S Classes back-to-back and the rear unit kept derailing.  I knew it had a broken gear in one of the wheel-sets on the B end.

It wasn't too difficult to remove the cover-plate holding the wheels in place. First, remove the side frames which comes out in one piece.  Then, use a small screwdriver to pry out one end of the cover-plate, and when this is lifted up, use a flat needle noise pliers to pinch the retainers and the cover-plate will lift out.  Replacing all three gears took about 30 mins.  She runs much better now.

Cracked Gear

 Cover plate at top Right of photo

Photo shows new gears installed.